JANUARY 8TH, 1942

FLIGHT

E N E M Y A I R LOSSES T O J A N 3rd.
Over
M i d d l e East
O v e r G.B. Continent
0
0
3
Dec. 28
29
3
0
2
0
8
4
30
0
0
0
31
5
0
0
1
Jan.
0
3
0
2
0
0
2
3

3
Total! :

16
I I O n g r o u n d 428
N o r t h 5,606;
over 3,362.

Middle East,

raiding the airfield at Sungei Patani,

which is in Japanese hands. A report
from the Netherlands East Indies says
that an Australian squadron of Hudsons stationed in their islands bombed
a Japanese cruiser off Celebes and set
it on fire. The Dutch assert that the
Japanese" will get no oil from the wells
in Borneo. The British force in
Sarawak has withdrawn to the Dutch
part of that island.

The New Pacific Command

TTTHILE the Japanese fleet domin' * ateS the Pacific for the time
being and permits reinforcements to
be landed in the Philippines, and
presumably in French Indo-China,
whence they march against Malaya
and Burma; while attempted landings are made on the
Malay
peninsula and have to be repelled by
British artillery, but not interfered
with by the weakened British naval
forces in that part, and while Japanese dive-bombers harass the American and Filipino forces in Luzon as
they grimly fight on against everincreasing hordes of Japanese troops,
a step has been taken in Washington
which may, and ought to, bring about
a timely reversal of the tide of Japanese successes.
The Pacific campaign is primarily a
sea-air affair. Japanese aircraft have
crippled the British naval forces at
the Ley point of Singapore, and have
done considerable damage to the
American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour. It is these preliminary steps
which have allowed the enemy aircraft
carriers to range far and wide over
the Pacific Ocean, and have made possible the landing of Japanese troops
on the various islands. Those troops
have been accompanied by divebombers, which have played their
regular part in the land fighting. All
these successes are due. to preponderant sea power, cleverly combined with
the use of air power.
On the other hand, we may recall
that President Roosevelt has stated
that, despite the damage done at Pearl
Harbour, the U.S. Pacific Fleet is still
a well-balanced fleet. Some American
warships are certainly in the Atlantic
playing their part in the battle for the
supply line between the Americas and
the Old World. But, though official
knowledge is not to be expected, we
may
assume
that,
while
the
R.A.F. can prevent the Sharnhorst,

Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen from

emerging from Brest, there is no
reason why the American battleships
should be in the Atlantic. Of the
Pacific Fleet we have heard no news
since Col. Knox returned from
Hawaii. That is as it should be. It
suggests that that fleet is busy, and
when a fleet is busy it keeps silence.
Of course, it may be waiting for reinforcements, British as well as
American, but it may already have
begun to search for the Japanese
battle fleet. The American carriers
must be very active in sending out
scouting aircraft to search the vast
ocean for that enemy fleet, but there
are only certain areas where it is likely
to be found. If the Japanese battle
fleet can be smashed in a modern
Trafalgar, which ought not to be beyond the combined powers of Britain
and the United States, everything
else would follow naturally and, so to
speak, easily. Once the Japanese are
deprived of the command of the seas
which depends on their battleships
the Allies will be able to deal with
all their scattered landing parties, each
of which would be cut off from its
base.
But, with so many Japanese expeditions in progress, so many local
interests involved, unity of Allied
command is needed as never before.
On our side there are forces from
Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands East Indies and
the United States, all fighting hard in
or on all three elements., One coordinating mind, capable of thinking
in terms of grand strategy, was obviously needed, and General Wavell has
been chosen as that man. It may
strike many as strange that a soldier
should have been chosen to rule a
campaign which is mainly naval and
aerial in character; but the requisite
in the supreme commander is not
that he should be able to tell an
Admiral how to deploy his ships for

B R I T I S H A I R LOSSES T O J A N 3rd.

Dec.
.
,

Jan.

28
29
30
31
1
2
..
3

Over
Over Continent
G.B.
A ' c r f t . B'brs. F t r s Pilots
7
0
0
U
0
I
I
0
2
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
1
0
0
0
0

10

Middle
East
Aerft
1*
4
2
2
2
2
14

Totals: N o r t h , 3,143;
Middle East
about 862. " I Pilot safe.

a fleet action, nor that he should be

an authority on the siting of airfields
and the combined use of bombers and
fighters, but that he should be able
to see the Pacific war as a whole and
be able to combine his forces of many
nations and three Services, and direct
them to the best advantage. We
British believe that no one could do
that better than Gen. Wavell, and
evidently President Roosevelt is of the
same opinion.
Great things were expected of the
meeting of the President with the
British Prime Ministerwho is himself a strategist on the grand scale
and this decision is the first outcome
of the meeting. It is so bold, comprehensive, and unusual a step that
it almost takes one's breath away.
Without that meeting the Allies might
have stumbled along for weary years
of hard fighting and losses before they
achieved unity of purpose and action.
Soon, perhaps, Russian air strength
will be added to the other forces
arrayed against Japan. Meanwhile,
the Russians press the Germans back
all along the line. It has been suggested that the Luftwffe concentration in Greece and Crete was meant
for use against the Crimea. If so.
the Russian landing there has forestalled the move. The aircraft may
now, perhaps, be diverted to Tripolitania.

300

JAN

FEB

APR

AUG

SEPT

OCT

NOV

DEC

The above diagram deals with British and German losses in the Northern Area ot
the war, including the episode of the R.A.F. Wing in Russia.
It does not include
the fiddle East, or enemy aircraft shot down by ships and the Fleet Air Arm.